Look back in anger

'I'll be fascinated to see how the play holds up,'' says David Wenham of The Boys, Gordon Graham's compelling examination of male violence against women that premiered with Wenham in the lead role at the Stables Theatre 21 years ago.

In 1991, Wenham was 25, five years out of graduating from drama college in Penrith. He'd been in professional productions of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Miller's The Crucible but it was his portrayal of the savage ex-con Brett Sprague in Griffin Theatre's daring production - and the subsequent film version that appeared in 1998 - that identified him as a future star.

Newspapers of the time reported how queues formed around the block for one of the hottest tickets in town, fuelled in part by the public's horror after the terrible revelations from the recent Anita Cobby murder trial. Was the play based on the Cobby crime? It's a question unanswered for two decades.

''It was an extremely visceral experience for the audience. A very powerful, thought-provoking piece,'' Wenham recalls. ''I haven't been involved in a piece of theatre since where so many audience members stayed behind afterwards, wanting to discuss the play.

''That's such a rarity. It will be interesting to see whether that occurs again [this year].''

So what does Sam Strong's 21st-anniversary revival - for the Griffin and at the Stables - mean for Wenham personally? ''The passing of time. Jeanette Cronin [now probably best known as Tracey Samuels, the sanctimonious office manager in ABC's Crownies] was one of the girlfriends in the film. Now she's Brett's mother.''

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Because the history of The Boys has always been entwined with the story of the Anita Cobby murder, a new generation probably needs an introduction. Why was it one of those crimes - along with the disappearance of the Beaumont children and the shark arm murder - that appear like milestones in Australia's social history?

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Anita Cobby was 26 and returning home from a meal out with friends when she was abducted at 10pm on February 2, 1986, in Blacktown. Five men, including three brothers, raped and murdered her. Her body was discovered in a farmer's field two days later.

The trial began on March 16, 1987, with one of the five pleading guilty. It lasted 54 days. All five were found guilty of what the judge called ''one of the most horrifying physical and sexual assaults … a calculated killing done in cold blood''.

Graham gave the play its first airing at the Australian National Playwrights' Conference in 1988. ''I felt then that some of the things worked so well it would have a fair bit of impact,'' he recalls now. But no commercial theatre would touch it, even though Demolition Job, which he wrote in 1984, had been a hit.

So Griffin - which has been a crucible of new writing at the Stables since 1979 - took the risk, launching what would become one of its signature productions alongside other plays that became successful films, such as Speaking in Tongues (Lantana) and Richard Barrett's The Heartbreak Kid.

The brutal nihilism of the characters and their resemblance to Anita Cobby's murderers guaranteed it would become headline news.

''I've always denied it was based on the Cobby case but I guess it was prompted by it,'' Graham admits now. ''Not so much by the details of the murder but the public reaction to it. A year or two later, when all the information was coming out during the trial, people were riveted, horrified by each new day's revelations.

''I was fascinated by the way it gripped people who wanted to understand how and why this could happen.''

Compared with other Graham plays - particularly Demolition Job, which has been performed overseas and by large professional companies in Australia - The Boys has rarely been performed since, although there have been fringe theatrical productions, including one in New York.

But Graham accepts that ''in terms of impact'', The Boys is far and away his most successful play.

For this revival, he has attended rehearsals, working with Strong and the cast to ''tweak'' the original script.

''Mostly we've gotten rid of specific cultural references that dated it too exactly,'' Graham says. ''And young men swear differently now from the time when it was written. I've replaced a few 'bloodys' and 'mongrels' … ''

(Cronin might reflect on how much of a storm the expletive-laced language of the yuppie lawyers in Crownies would have caused if uttered on stage by representatives of the criminals' underclass 21 years ago.)

Strong says he welcomed the playwright's presence in rehearsals, which some directors might find a mixed blessing. ''Most of the work I do is with new writing, so I'm generally lucky enough to have the writer in the room. Having a classic that's ready to go is a double blessing.''

Now 35, Strong didn't see the original but then he hadn't seen Speaking in Tongues either before he directed the recent successful Griffin revival at the Stables. They're the first in a line of Griffin revivals, linking past performances with a new generation of writers and actors.

''Of course the fact that 2012 is the 21st anniversary of The Boys felt like good timing,'' Strong says. ''But there's something about this piece that has made me want to direct it for a long time.

''The Boys in the theatre is a uniquely intense experience and even more so at the Stables. We're bringing the play home to the space to which it is ideally suited.''

Will audiences still find it relevant? ''There are parts of the work, particularly for those who know it only by reputation or through the film, which will surprise people - specifically, the amount of time the play spends with the female characters.''

There's a case for claiming that Graham's play spawned a rich new genre in Australian film. Wolf Creek, Snowtown and Animal Kingdom are just three examples of successful movies based on or inspired by true-life crimes such as the outback murder of Peter Falconio or the grisly discoveries of eight bodies in barrels of acid stored at a former bank building in South Australia.

''Both the play and the film of The Boys were the first in that genre,'' Strong agrees. ''Why people are interested in [such films is] that they attempt to interrogate the psychology of violence. That is especially true of The Boys.

''One of the most powerful things about the play is that the majority of the violence is implied, hinted at and suppressed.

''It is not a violent play. And that is what makes it all the more chilling and gripping.''